Right now, I'm mowing through the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion and System of the World) by Neal Stephenson. While it isn't his best opus, I have never enjoyed a book series this much. Every page is true joy, and there's 4000+ of them.

Right now I'm reading Harry Potter 4 and 5 in preparation of book 6 and movie 4. I'm also reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in occasional bursts. Just finished reading the New Jedi Order series of Star Wars books. Want to read Ulysses by James Joyce, but I can never seem to get into it enough to finish it.

I enjoyed all of Dan Brown's books.... Deception Point in particular was a good read. Quite light, but good.

What I really want is a book that is set in reality, but pushes nicely into the fantasy / science fiction realm. There are far too many books out there that either stick too religiously with reality - CSI / blockbuster movie type crap, or stick with the boring conventions of dwarf/wizard/alien/robot. Where is that perfect subtle mix?

I remember reading books by Colin Thiele as a kid. Some of those books made my imagination sore. Where are the books like that for adults?

I like Dostoevsky a lot, though you must have good mental health or else some of the books may start playing with *your* mind!

I read the autobiography of Miles Davis; the language is quite coarse, but I did pick up some gems. I'm extremely interested in him, so that's what urged me in reading it.

If you've never read The Great Gatsby, go get a copy now and do so. Pure bliss.

I just finished Freakonomics, a great book for anyone, and especially great if you have interest in math/numbers. Takes on a mind-boggingly diverse range of topics; I look forward to reading more by the author.

And a good practical book: How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks... (long subtitle) by Leil Lowndes. Just a nice course in how to act when meeting new people, lots of good tips and tricks for improving your appearance and mannerisms in situations with new people. Reading it has helped me feel better when meeting new people, at the very least

After reading LotR I don't think I can be bothered to read the Simarillion as well. Tolkien was a genius when it comes to developing backgrounds for stories, but the story and the characters in LotR where about the bigges let down I've ever read.

sacha Wrote:All time favorite of mine:
Currently I'm reading the Illuminatus! Trilogy. Weird stuff. Almost makes me want to try weed so might understand it better

Weed won't help with that book, correction, it will help you put that book down, forever, and pick up a soothing bong instead.
Robert Anton Wilson's "Cosmic Trigger", which is basically his autobiography is much much better than illuminatus. "Masks of the Illuminati" is also a big trip to read, it involves Aleister Crowley, Einstein, James Joyce, and ..some other guy..all in this very weird murder mystery occult conspiracy something or other. Its been about 18 years since I read both, but they stay on the brains..a bit, like a jelly stain.

I'm a fan of HP Lovecraft and the genre he created, read more books in that line than I can even keep track of. Its easy enough to hit a good library, look up lovecraft, look up the people who talk about him in his published works, look up the people who talk about them in their published works, and before you know it six months has passed and you've read more books than your brain can absorb, and the great old ones start crawling out of your intestines...maybe that is just me. All of HP Lovecraft's work is available online, if you are in need of cheap summer reading.

Incarnations of Immortality from Piers Anthony is a great seven book series.
Cenotaph Road series from Robert Vardeman is a great escape to other worlds.

I hate Anne Rice as a person, but The Witching Hour was a great read.
Conspiracies, horny ghosts, crazy insane nympo chicks getting it on with horny ghosts, that stuff is classic! I could not put that damned book down for days, even through a severe head cold while making abrasives with industrial glue and a drill press, I was risking life and limb and job to get to the next chapter.

Recently I started to read the Halo series, but with all the military mumbo jumbo it just reminds me that at any minute my brother may be blown to bits in Iraq, those aren't happy thoughts, takes the fun out of reading it. Maybe I'll mail it over to him.

Sealfin, good find on the Dracula, that was my childhood favorite, other kids wanted to be superman or go to disneyland, I wanted to be the count and live in Transylvania (maybe it was the three brides that sold me on that idea)!

funkboy Wrote:I like Dostoevsky a lot, though you must have good mental health or else some of the books may start playing with *your* mind!

And to think I read all the Dostoevsky I could in 9th grade and everyone thought I was crazy...
I am also reading the Hitchhiker's guide in bursts. I borrowed a friend's book two years ago and am halfway through it (he occasionaly asks if I still have it, its the complete anthology).
I am a big fan of the Discworld series by Terry Prachett. Nothing like a world on the back of a giant turtle's back in space to give a wonderfully funny distorted view of our current time.

@igame3d: heh, I only started reading Dracula rather reluctantly, having read so many books in the same (if you'll pardon the pun...) vein over the years, from Anne Rice and friends, that I thought Dracula would have become a pastiche of itself; but having read this comic adaptation as far as I could (the artist seems to have abandoned it halfway through chapter six...) I found I was hooked, and I'm happy to have been proved wrong

@sacha: heh, I forgot to mention Illuminatus!; lousy plot, but I like it as a pointer to more interesting forteana (like to Emperor Norton, who I'd never even heard of until I read Illuminatus!...)

And I'll add to my list, not strictly books, but the first series of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which is far, far superior to the film... although that wouldn't be that hard an achievement), and The Adventures of Luther Arkwright

I read all of Corun's books, though I thought that the characters in Harry Potter were much too flat and predictable. I only really read those out of habit now, and every now and then they are pretty funny. (I assume the Hitchhiker refers to Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, and I like that, too).
oh, yea. I also love LOTR, and i sort of like Eragon.

Wilson's Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy is also tons of fun. But yea, the Cosmic Trigger books are probably his best stuff. I thought about mentioning RAW, but didn't bother since I hadn't actually read any of his books in years, and then other people go and do it for me. Go figure.

The Halo books are fun. The worst thing about them is that Bungie basically ignored book 3 in Halo 2, despite the books being written from the Halo story bible. Peeved me off something fierce.